NEW DELHI: A Deputy Inspector General of Police, charge sheeted for his role in the
1984 anti-Sikh riots in South Delhi, has said that the decision not to impose curfew and summon the cops after the outbreak of violence in the Capital had been taken on a meeting held at the residence of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,
In a memorandum submitted to the Home Ministry, Chandra Prakash has said that he was informed of the decision by his immediate superior officer, the then Additional Commissioner of Police Ganta Kaul.
i suggested to Sri Gautam Kaul that the situation had taken a very ugly turn and arson had spread in a vast area. I recommended to him that curfew should be immediately imposed and army called out to assist the civil administration. Shi Gautam Kar turned down any recommendation relating that a meeting had already taken place sometime in the Prime Minister’s office where the Home Minister was also present and a decision has been taken not to impose curfew and call out the army at that stage.”
According to Ministry sources, the memorandum by Chandra Prakash was the Deputy Commissioner of Police looking after the South District from 1983 to 1985, was submitted on October. He had earlier been served a charge sheet by the Delhi High Court on September 21.
This is the first time that a senior police officer has directly blamed the then Congress Government for inadequate action to curb the antiSikh riots which had broken out in the Capital in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and which had claimed over 3,000 victims, Prakash’s memorandum in effect damns two Prime Ministers, for P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Home Minister during the traumatic days. What makes Chandra’s memorandum even more significant is that Gautam Kaul is closely related to the Nehru Gandhi family,
Gautam Kaul declined to comment on the charges leveled against him by Chandra. “I have no comments to make,” he said when contacted by “The Pioneer” with details of Chandra’s memorandum,
So far the inquiry committees had blamed mostly administrative lapses as being responsible for the 1984 riots. Even the Banganath Misra Commission of Inquiry had given a clean chit to Congress leaders and dismissed the widely held belief that the riots were politically organized.
Chandra has in his memorandum objected to the inclusion of Gautam Kaul and two other officers in the list of witnesses by whom the charges now framed against him are “sought to be sustained.”
He has also demanded an authenticated copy of Kaul’s deposition so that “I may examine the possibility of appropriate legal action against him as the matter involves a question of far reaching interest, probity and fairness in public conduct by high officers of the State. Further recourse to the legal remedy appears to be absolutely essential for vindication of my reputation and the legal remedy is available to me independently of the proposed departmental proceedings.”
Recounting the sequence of events on October 31, Pro kash has informed the Home Ministry that Kaul was present at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) when rioting broke out in the evening. Horne Ministry sources said that Chandra Prakash has stated in his memorandum that he approached Kaul when the rioting started from INA market, located near the ALUMS.
If my recommendation for imposing of curfew and calling out of the army immediately had been accepted, possibly much of the tragic events of the following days could have been averted,”
Chandra has claimed, Chandra Prakash has also pointed out that if he had indeed connived with the rioters, Kaul, being his superior officer, could have immediately taken disciplinary action against him “then and there,” which was never done,
The DIG from Arunachal Pradesh has also cited in his memorandum the affidavit of an Indian Express Correspondent, Joseph Maliakan, filed before the Ranganath Misra Inquiry Commission. When nots broke out, Maliakan, who was also present at the AIIMS, asked Kaul as to what was the police doing. The fatter replied “We can do nothing.”
Gautam Kaul is one of the three witnesses listed on the charge sheet presented to Chandra Prakash the then Station House Officer of Vinay Nagar, Harmeet Singh and Sub-Inspector Ramesh Rana. While Harmeet Singh had hidden himself for his personal safety, Prakash has informed the Home Ministry that Rana’s objectivity could possibly suffer from the fact that the latter had been meted out punishment on several occasions by him in 1984,
Chandra Prakash was charge sheeted along with Sewa Das, who was the DCP in charge of the East district in 1984. The noting was particularly severe in both districts.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1992
